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wow.... I blame turkey...
Stunner: 7-year drought is over
Duhon, Gordon key win in San Antonio
By Marlen Garcia
Chicago Tribune staff reporter
Published November 25, 2005, 11:54 PM CST
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SAN ANTONIO -- Few NBA scores will raise eyebrows like this one:
Bulls 106, Spurs 99.
The still young, still small and still error-prone Bulls won in San Antonio for the first time since March 14, 1998. They ended a nine-game losing skid against the Spurs and a six-game losing steak here.
Here's another first: The Bulls have won twice on the dreaded November circus trip for the first time since Michael Jordan departed in 1998. A victory over the struggling Houston Rockets on Saturday night would put them at .500 for the trip.
"It's tough playing them," Chris Duhon said of the Spurs. "This was the way we need to play all the time to achieve [our] goals."
Duhon and Ben Gordon came up big down the stretch. Duhon scored 10 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter. He also finished with seven assists, five rebounds, two steals and just one turnover. Gordon led five Bulls in double digits with 19 points.
The Bulls even had perennial All-Star Tim Duncan fumbling the ball late in the game and forced Manu Ginobili to scramble to toss up an off-balance three-pointer with less than 30 seconds to go. Duncan scored a game-high 24 points to go with 11 rebounds.
The hosts looked uneasy down the stretch, a rarity this season for the defending NBA champions, who are 10-3.
Ot a Harrington kept the Bulls close early, and Darius Songaila had critical baskets from the top of the key in the second quarter.
Everyone pitched in as the Bulls were in dire need of a balanced team effort, especially because Harrington and Michael Sweetney were in foul trouble the entire game. Sweetney played just 11 minutes and scored five points.
"It got complicated," Bulls forward Andres Nocioni said.
But Nocioni made it look fairly easy, probably because he's comfortable playing power forward. Nocioni scored 13.
"We went with a small lineup, and they went small too," Skiles said.
"I think it played to our advantage. It kind of got them out of their game. We've played small so much in the last two years, our guys are accustomed to it."
Intent on preventing Tony Parker from controlling the game, the Bulls, for the most part, were successful. They cut him off almost every time he attempted to break them down by penetrating.
"In watching them, taking nothing away from Tim, Parker has been the key for them," Skiles said. "Duncan is Duncan. He's going to have a great year every year. But Tony's shooting 57 percent."
To be exact, Parker was shooting an astounding 56.6 percent heading into the game.
"Parker never really got loose on us, and then we hit big shots," Skiles said.
Parker finished with a season-low 13 points.
Ginobili (16 points), Nick Van Exel (15) and Michael Finley (12) also were in double figures for San Antonio.
The Spurs should have seen this coming. After all, the Bulls took them to overtime before losing less than three weeks ago.
"We've had a tendency to play pretty good against them," Skiles said. "We just couldn't get over the hump."
Until Friday, that is.
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wow.... I blame turkey...
Bulls cool off Spurs, hand out SBC loss
Web Posted: 11/26/2005 12:41 AM CST
Johnny Ludden
Express-News Staff Writer
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Back from a quick trip to the West Coast, the Spurs returned to the SBC Center to discover their once state-of-the-art arena apparently no longer had dependable air conditioning. As the air seemed to shut off, then back on, then off again during Friday's game, many of the 18,797 fans removed their jackets and started waving programs in front of their faces.
The Spurs' attempts to cool off the Chicago Bulls proved considerably more difficult. Displaying the type of execution usually associated with the NBA's defending champions, Chicago scored 61 points in the second half to carve out a 106-99 victory.
For the Spurs, it was their first loss this season at the SBC Center. It was the Bulls' first victory in San Antonio since Michael Jordan led them with 30 points on March14, 1998.
The Spurs might as well have been trying to guard His Airness on Friday. Ben Gordon came off the bench to lead Chicago with 19 points. Chris Duhon provided 18 points and had half of the Bulls' six 3-pointers in the second half.
It was only the third time the Spurs have allowed 100 points this season, which, not so coincidentally, are the only three times they've lost.
"We had a lot of guys making mistakes, and part of it was because of (Chicago's) execution," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "They did a of a job. It was fun to watch."
The Bulls accomplished their goal of containing Tony Parker, limiting him to a season-low 13 points, the last three of which came on a meaningless 26-footer in the closing seconds. After watching Parker repeatedly dart by them in overtime of the Spurs' victory in Chicago on Nov.7, the Bulls did a far better job of cutting off his penetration Friday.
They also worked to make Tim Duncan's evening difficult. Duncan totaled 24 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks but often had to fight to get the ball. With Chicago often fronting him, he took only four shots in the first half.
The Bulls, who hadn't played since Sunday, out-rebounded the Spurs 49-41, despite playing much of the second half with a small lineup. They shot a combined 53.5 percent in the final two quarters.
"I thought they played great the entire night," Duncan said. "Down the stretch where we usually make stops, they continued to make baskets and didn't give us an opportunity to get back in the game."
The Spurs played from behind much of the evening. Twice in the fourth quarter, they pulled within two points only to have Duhon follow with a 3-pointer. Andres Nocioni also made a pair of 3-pointers and scored six of his 13 points at the start of the last quarter.
The Spurs weren't as accurate. With Chicago packing in its defense, the Spurs misfired on 17 of their season-high 28 3-point attempts.
The Spurs entered the game having made a league-high 48.1 percent of their shots but seemed intent on quickly shedding that distinction. They missed 15 of 22 shots in the first quarter, including eight in a row during one tortuous stretch.
Popovich finally found someone with a steady hand when he pulled Nick Van Exel off the bench to start the second quarter. After missing his first shot, Van Exel pump-faked Gordon into the air, then stepped back to bury a 3-pointer.
Before the quarter was done, Van Exel had drilled two more 3-pointers and scored 13 points.
"He kept us in the game there for a stretch," Popovich said.
That stretch didn't last nearly long enough.
After three of their big men — Michael Sweetney, Tyson Chandler and Ot a Harrington — ran into foul trouble early in the second half, the Bulls went small, using a lineup that featured 6-foot-9 swingman Luol Deng as the tallest player. Chicago quickly found a remedy to the Spurs' size advantage: They shot over them and beat them to the rebounds.
The Spurs also went small but could never consistently stop the Bulls.
"Their big men getting into foul trouble might have been the best thing to happen to them," Robert Horry said. "Their smalls got into the paint, and when we collapsed, their big men got the rebound.
"They played good tonight."
Was it the turkey or lack of air conditioning?
Spurs notebook: Bulls' focus on Parker pays off
Web Posted: 11/26/2005 12:41 AM CST
Johnny Ludden
Express-News Staff Writer
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About an hour before the start of Friday's game, Chicago Bulls coach Scott Skiles said he thought the key to stopping the Spurs was stopping their point guard.
He was right.
During the Spurs' Nov.7 victory in Chicago, Tony Parker scored 22 points, including eight in the five-minute overtime period. Whenever he tried to drive into the paint Friday, the Bulls were waiting for him. He finished with a season-low 13 points.
"We just tried to pick him up early, collapse and make him get rid of the ball quicker," Bulls point guard Chris Duhon said.
Before Friday, Parker hadn't scored fewer than 17 points in a game. On Wednesday against Golden State, he drove for 10 layups and matched his season-high with 26 points.
"He's having a great year," Skiles said. "He's breaking down every team and getting to the rim, and he did that against us at home. You can't keep him out of the paint, but you have to kind of keep him from getting directly to the rim and making plays."
The Bulls were able to do that Friday by packing the lane.
"The guy who's on him has to stay in pursuit, and then the other people have to do the best they can to contain him until the pursuit catches up," Skiles said. "He's very crafty. He can get between two people. You have to be really tight.
"If you don't let him get all the way to the restricted area in front of the rim, you can get the ball out of his hands a little bit sooner, and then you have a better opportunity to close out on the shooters."
Parker wasn't the only one who had trouble getting to the basket. As a result, the Spurs attempted a season-high 28 3-pointers.
"You know if you go to the basket, you're going to draw a charge or shoot against three guys," Manu Ginobili said.
Testy, testy: The Bulls weren't too happy that Robert Horry cleared out Luol Deng under the basket in the fourth quarter.
After Horry appeared to shove Deng aside, Duhon exchanged a few words with the Spurs' forward.
"It was a cheap, dirty play," Duhon said. "If I had to fight (Horry), I would probably lose nine times out of 10, but I always stand up for my teammates in any situation."
Said Deng: "You know the guys around the league, and Horry's not a bad guy. I think he may have just been a little frustrated."
Law of averages: About that free-throw shooting ...
The Spurs began the evening ranked ninth in the league in foul shooting but reverted to their old form. They made 16 of their 25 attempts (64 percent).
On the positive side, Tim Duncan went 8 of 10.
Looking to improve: After advancing to the playoffs last season for the first time since Michael Jordan left the Windy City, the Bulls are still searching for some consistency.
Nine players on Chicago's roster are holdovers from last season. Center Eddy Curry, who forced a sign-and-trade to New York, was the most notable player to leave.
"We made a conscious decision to keep the younger main players of our team together," Skiles said. "The thought process behind it is they're going to get better. They're going to improve.
"Each of those guys needs to improve and step their game up and become more consistent."
Of the 12 players on the Bulls' active roster Friday night, eight have three seasons or less of experience.
I agree. I don't understand why Pop went small. This was ther perfect opportunity for the Spurs to run 4-down to his heart's delight. No way to Bulls should ever outscore the Spurs in the paint the way they did. Teams should be responding to match up with us, not the other way around."We went with a small lineup, and they went small too," Skiles said.
"I think it played to our advantage. It kind of got them out of their game. We've played small so much in the last two years, our guys are accustomed to it."
In truth, our small lineup is too small. We're missing that one Nocioni/Ferry/Hedo-- , Sharrod Ford tweener-type that could keep us from putting Finley or Bowen out there as our PF.
I will continue to pimp this type of player until I'm convinced it's not necessary.
Oh, yeah....
Noel Felix.
"Teams should be responding to match up with us, not the other way around."
Pop seems to think the Spurs adjust to the other team's game plan, not the other way around.
Nocioni/4 PF, Chandler/4, Sweetney/5, Harrington/5.
Their bigs play Tim tough,
Tim takes 4 shots in first half,
Spurs denied the paint take 38 3Gs (but score 33 pts!)
none of their bigs foul out,
Bullls win by 7.
The Bulls just flat out-played, out-hustled, out-shot, out-defended, out-smarted the Spurs, Bulls made their shots and stops down the stretch.
The Spurs were lucky to lose by only 7.
Spurs get a chance to "repeat" getting "out"ed next Thursday @DAL.
I'm sure the Mavs will want to win, I have my doubts that the Spurs will.
Spurs getting stuck with Ls from good teams playing good/great games, while Spur getting ugly Ws. When will Spurs get a pretty W playing a top team?
November sucks as much as Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct.
Last edited by boutons; 11-26-2005 at 01:22 PM.
They put their small lineup out there out of desperation because all their bigs were in foul trouble.
You don't let your opposition dictate the game with their strategy when your own strategy and play is about to pay dividends.
Bingo, I forgot to mention the foul trouble.
congrats bulls you played better last night
I don't think going small was the ultimate problem. The utter lack of defensive effort for about 44 minutes was the greater problem. Bottom line, had the Spurs bothered to play defense for even half this game they should have won easily.
It pisses me off that the Spurs can respond to Pop's comments in the press with a completely dominating performance on the road against the warriors and then just totally forget that lesson in their very next game. They lost this game because they were lazy and felt they could pull it out with a defensive stand in the last 5 minutes. A very ty loss and one that could have been avoided.
No matter whether the Spurs won or loss, the fact was the Bulls outplayed them. BUT . . . I still think this could have been a "bad win" if they had just pounded them on the blocks after they put all their big men on the bench.
The defense has been a problem all year, so it's not really surprising it didn't change because of one game.
As I write this, I'm watching the Rockheads trying to mount a fourth-quarter comeback on the Bulls by pounding in to Yao (10 pts in the quarte,r who's playing on one leg after spraining it in the first half).
Yao had ~15 points in the fourth to lead Houston back from way down, but then he fouled out and the Rockets didn't have enough juice left. This has turned out to be a nice little road trip for the Bulls.
Damn..beating the Spurs last night gave them some confidence...where was Mcgrady?
Out with back spasms.
Damn, that's a shame. Rockets are off to a horrendous start.
When the Suns went small on the Spurs last week, Pop put in Nazr Mohammed and he made a big difference in the Spurs upsurge in the 2nd half. Pop could have easily done so vs. the Bulls. The experiment didn't work and the Bulls crashed the boards very well on their few misses.
The Bulls would end up with 4 more offensive rebounds, plus the Spurs missed 11 FTs and didn't make the Bulls pay for fouling them in the paint. Those two areas were the difference, as it would turn out.
After the win against the Kings, Pop was publicly critical of the sloppy play from the Spurs. What's really interesting is that he said something along the lines of players not responding to "silly speeches from the coach." And that what they WOULD respond to would be losses. Whenever he says stuff like that.... it's almost like a foreshadowing of things to come. So while there was some things Pop could have done to pull out an "ugly" win.... deep inside in my mind, I have to wonder if he chose not to do that. Why reward uninspired, sloppy defense?
He did put two bigs out there.Pop could have easily done so vs. the Bulls
But the guards were running right by them.
Once again, I don't understand how putting a Nazr Mohammed on a Duhon or Gordon on defense, is sain.
You wouldn't want to put Nazr on Duhon or Gordon. You put him on a forward. Pop put him on Diaw vs. PHX. Can Nazr defend the lane on Deng? Maybe, but we don't know.
If the Jazz whip us, we have something to worry about. That would just be ironic, if 2 teams ended droughts versus us this year.
-knocks on wood-
Jazz already ended their W drought vs Tim last season,
winning on a last-second put back by Memo @Jazz.
sh*t happens. Big deal, the Bulls won a game.
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